The
Russian people have a phrase to express the strongest sense of
gratitude:

Ogromnoe
spasibo.

Shirley
Goldstein no doubt heard that expression or a comparable one many
times in the 1970s and ’80s. Perhaps some people expressed the
thought to her in accented English or through tears of thanks.

That’s
because Goldstein — a Council Bluffs native who lived in Omaha
later in life — was a tireless leader in an inspiring campaign for
justice during the last decades of the Cold War.

Thanks
to efforts by Goldstein and others who helped individual families and
spurred governments to apply international pressure, the Soviet Union
reversed course and began allowing Jewish residents to emigrate in
significant numbers.

As a
result, tens of thousands of Soviet Jews fled appalling anti-Semitic
abuse and sought refuge in the United States, Israel and other
countries.

Her
efforts helped draw the attention of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley,
R-Iowa, who became a stalwart supporter of putting economic pressure
on the Soviet government to allow emigration of Jewish residents.

Goldstein
risked her own safety in her travels to the Soviet Union. She
smuggled contraband materials to Soviet Jews, and the 1975 audio
interview she secretly recorded with the young dissident Natan
Sharansky circulated internationally and greatly strengthened the
effort against Soviet abuse of Jewish citizens.

The
Omaha Committee for Soviet Jewry, founded by Goldstein and fellow
Omahan Miriam Simon, worked with the Jewish Federation of Omaha to
resettle more than 150 Soviet émigré families in Omaha.

Pamela
Cohen, then-national president of the Union of Councils for Soviet
Jews, was interviewed by The World-Herald in 1996 for a profile of
Goldstein.

It
was inspiring, she said of Goldstein, that “someone far away from
Moscow — in Omaha, Nebraska — made a life-or-death difference to
someone in Russia.”

Goldstein’s
“story is one of a seemingly ordinary person finding it within
herself to be extraordinary.” The support from her husband, Leonard
“Buddy” Goldstein, was vital in sustaining her spirits during her
years of dedication to this issue.

Last
week, Shirley Goldstein died at age 94. In Omaha and elsewhere, many
people paused to remember and honor her.

Some
Soviet émigrés she helped recalled their gratitude to her for
helping them escape the Soviet system.

Perhaps
for some a phrase came to mind. A phrase — heartfelt, deep with
gratitude — they had expressed to Goldstein many decades before.